Abstract
Prejudices towards different groups are interrelated, but research has yet to find a way to promote tolerance towards multiple outgroups. We devise, develop and implement a new cognitive intervention for achieving generalized tolerance based on scientific studies of social categorization. In five laboratory experiments and one field study the intervention led to a reduction of prejudice towards multiple outgroups (elderly, disabled, asylum seekers, HIV patients, gay men), and fostered generalized tolerance and egalitarian beliefs. Importantly, these effects persisted outside the laboratory in a context marked by a history of violent ethnic conflict, increasing trust and reconciliatory tendencies towards multiple ethnic groups in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. We discuss the implications of these findings for intervention strategies focused on reducing conflict and promoting peaceful intergroup relations.
Highlights
The spectre of prejudice can rapidly reverse the harmony of intergroup relations, and escalate into full-scale conflict, war and genocide
The intervention we propose does not attempt to change the content of existing stereotypes, it changes the way in which people think about outgroups. We argue that this ‘core cognition’ approach to reducing prejudice has great potential because it addresses one of the biggest challenges facing contemporary research on prejudice-reduction: How to promote generalized tolerance towards multiple groups; that is, egalitarianism in intergroup attitudes
In Experiment 1, an independent samples t-test confirmed that participants primed with a counter-stereotypic mindset displayed a lower need for cognitive closure than those primed with stereotypicality, t(48) = 2.05, p = .046, d = 0.59 (Ms = .46 vs..56)
Summary
The spectre of prejudice can rapidly reverse the harmony of intergroup relations, and escalate into full-scale conflict, war and genocide. In this article we devise, develop, and test a new approach to reducing prejudice that targets this unreasoning, heuristic basis for prejudice. The intervention we propose does not attempt to change the content of existing stereotypes, it changes the way in which people think about outgroups. We argue that this ‘core cognition’ approach to reducing prejudice has great potential because it addresses one of the biggest challenges facing contemporary research on prejudice-reduction: How to promote generalized tolerance towards multiple groups; that is, egalitarianism in intergroup attitudes
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